Fight Against Money Laundering: Minister Adama Coulibaly Hands Over Keys to New GIABA Information Center

“Mr. outgoing Director General of GIABA, (…) you are the one who will receive the keys to this Information Center, which has been established by the Government as a testament to its strong commitment to combating money laundering and terrorist financing.”

With these words, Minister of Economy, Finance and Budget Adama Coulibaly officially handed over the keys to the new headquarters of the Information Center of the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) on Wednesday, August 12, 2026. The center is located in Cocody-Deux Plateaux.

The ceremony was attended by, among others, outgoing GIABA Director General Edwin Harris Junior and General Idrissa Touré, President of Côte d’Ivoire’s National Financial Intelligence Processing Unit (CENTIF), who also serves as the country’s GIABA national correspondent.

In his remarks, Minister Adama Coulibaly recalled that the creation of this Information Center, intended to serve the French- and Portuguese-speaking countries of the regional community, followed a decision taken in 2010 by the ECOWAS Council of Ministers. The headquarters agreement between Côte d’Ivoire and GIABA was subsequently signed in 2014.

“August 12, 2026 marks the realization of this commitment, with the provision of a modern, fully equipped and operational headquarters,” he said.

For the minister, the facility reflects the Ivorian Government’s firm determination to support GIABA’s efforts to combat financial crime. The center, he said, is expected to serve as a platform for awareness-raising, training, research, documentation and the exchange of experiences among the various stakeholders involved in combating money laundering and terrorist financing (AML/CFT).

Against the backdrop of increasingly sophisticated money-laundering techniques, the emergence of new channels for terrorist financing, the development of virtual assets and the acceleration of cross-border financial flows, Minister Adama Coulibaly stressed the need for a collective response.

“No State can claim to address these challenges alone,” he said, emphasizing that training, information-sharing and regional cooperation are essential tools in tackling financial crime.

The minister also praised GIABA’s support for Côte d’Ivoire in the country’s International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) process with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

In this regard, he recalled that the FATF Plenary held in Paris on June 19, 2026, had acknowledged the completion of Côte d’Ivoire’s action plan.

“A team of FATF assessment experts is expected to carry out an on-site visit, the final stage in the process of removing Côte d’Ivoire from the list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring,” he said, before officially declaring the Abidjan Information Center open.

For his part, outgoing GIABA Director General Edwin Harris Junior expressed his gratitude to the President of the Republic and the Ivorian Government for their support.

He described the center as “a strategic investment serving the Francophone and Lusophone ecosystem” and as a platform dedicated to documentation, research, awareness-raising, training and dialogue.

He called on institutions, professionals, academics, the media and young people to make use of the new facility, while expressing his hope that Côte d’Ivoire would achieve a “successful and positive exit” from the FATF grey list.

He also introduced his successor, Mam Cherno Jallow, and encouraged him to continue and consolidate the progress already achieved.

General Idrissa Touré, President of CENTIF, for his part, welcomed the Ivorian Government’s high-level political commitment, as well as the financial, material and human resources made available to stakeholders involved in the fight against financial crime.